' 111 
per ton. So far as we can judge, the worm has been mainly destroyed by natural 
causes, and we have every reason, to hope that its absence will ba permanent. If so, 
the energy of our people will be directed to the growth of willows, and in a few years 
we shall save to the country the hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold now annually 
sent abroad for willows.and willow-ware. 
BEEF PRODUCTION IN NEW MExico.—Agricultural industries, which 
bring with them homes, cultivation, mechanic arts, schools, and churches, 
in place of unpopulated prairies, are gradually banishing cattle-growing 
on the former vast scale from Texas. The following are among other 
indications that the business, with very remunerative inducements, is 
advancing into New Mexico, where it will also become the pioneer of 
other agricultural industries. It is reported that, five years ago, Messrs. 
Lacy, Coleman, and Allison imported into Colfax County cattle, prin- 
cipally from Texas, amounting in value to $14,000. Since then they 
have sold off about $40,000 worth, and have remaining about 7,000 cat- 
tle, averaging in value $18 per head, aggregating $126,000, or $14,000 
converted into $166,000 in five years. It is further reported that in the 
Vermejo district of the county alone, there are now 25,000 cattle of pure 
and mixed breeds, and the number is constantly increasing. 
CONTENTS OF A TIERCE.—In response to a letter from the Commis- 
sioner, S. H. Grant, esq., superintendent of the New York Produce Ex- 
change, states that the tierce in which salt meat is packed is about the 
same as the wine-measure tierce of 42 gallons, being 32 inches long, 
with heads 20 or 21 inches in diameter; the standard weight of beef 
packed in a tierce is 304 pounds. Charles Reynolds, esq., secretary of 
the Chicago Board of Trade, states that under the regulations of that 
board a tierce for packing meat is either 32 inches long, with heads 21 
inches in diameter, or 33 inches long, with heads 203 inches in diame- 
ter. For pork or beef hams the standard contents of the tierce are 300 
pounds; of mess or India beef, 304 pounds; of lard, 320 pounds. 
SMALL CHEESES.—The immense size of our factory Cheddars, and the 
uniformly large cheeses of private dairies, answer well for cutting by 
market retailers and in retail groceries of large trade, but are far from 
convenient for family use. The purchase of cheese in pound-slices, at 
20 to 25 cents for a fair to prime article, is unnecessarily expensive, 
almost to the prohibitive point in its effect upon consumption. In this 
country the small pine-apple cheese is made to a limited extént, and 
sold at high prices. The comparatively small Holdridge cheeses, rect- 
angular in shape, and weighing 10 to 15 pounds, though not extensively 
made, command a remunerative price. A few imitations of small Ger- 
man cheeses sell at higher prices than the regulation factory-pattern of 
60 to 70 pounds. It would prove a positive advantage, both to house- 
keepers and cheese manufacturers, if the fashion could be set for small 
cheeses. ‘The Stilton and other small cheeses, convenient to place upon 
the table, are far more common in England; and in some of the conti- 
nental countries of Europe small cheeses are the rule rather than the 
exception. 
At the Concours Agricole, at the Palace of Industry in Paris, in pro- 
gress from the 12th to the 16th of February last, the exhibition of 
cheese included a large number of forms, ef kinds some of which are 
well known to epicures of this country. An engraving of sixteen of 
these forms will give an idea of the great diversity and shape, and may 
furnish a hint to the cheese-makers of this country who feel inclined 
to cater for the supply of a manifest need. Among these are included 
the well-known eheese of Neufchatel, Brie, Gruyere, and Roquefort ; 
cheese in tile-form, paving-blocks, flat, and various irregular forms; 
